Prof. Dr. Em. Bart De Schutter has been the President of the Institute for European Studies (now part of the Brussels School of Governance) since its creation in 2001, and was reappointed in 2005. Since September 2005, he is also Chairman of the Erasmus Hogeschool Brussel. He graduated as Doctor in Law from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in 1959. He also holds an MA in Political and Diplomatic Sciences (Université Libre de Bruxelles, 1960) and an LLM from Harvard University (USA, 1961). He followed the "Special Programme on European Organizations" at the Faculté Internationale pour l'Enseignement du Droit Compare in Strasbourg and the "United Nations International Law Commission Seminar" in Geneva. He is Honorary Fellow at the Anglia Polytechnic University (Law School at Cambridge) and has been Director of the Brussels School of Governanve's LLM in International and European Law (PILC) programme since its inception in 1971. In 2003, he retired from this post.
Prof. De Schutter has been Dean of the Faculty of Law and Rector of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. He was member of the Board of Directors of the VUB and President of the Board of the VRT, the Flemish Public Radio and Television network. Since 1997, he is the Belgian representative at the Joint Supervisory Body of Europol and Schengen and since 2001 representative in the Joint Supervisory Authority of the EU Customs Information System. He was reappointed in 2004 as member of the "Commissie Bescherming Persoonlijke Levenssfeer" where he is substitute vice-chairman.